Peter did watch when Stiles left with Derek. It was weird. It was kind of that they were there one second and just gone the other but at the same time, he could tell that they had gone through the pipes. The shower head was dripping slightly and it was moving the force going through it.
And then Peter was standing in his boxers in the empty bathroom. He waited for a moment longer but when nothing else happened, he got ready for a shower himself. It felt weird, turning on the shower, but the water was coming out as is it should and Peter took the time to wash off the scent of Stiles and sex thoroughly.
Before Peter left, he went through the house to clean up after them. Stiles had taken care of the puddles Derek had left but there was still the pile of wet towels in the corner so Peter put them in the washing machine. Then he made the bed and went downstairs to clean up the living room. It felt strange, moving around the house of a stranger in the middle of the night. Not that he hadn't done that before but never before had he put dishes in the dishwasher over that. But John had been kind enough to let them borrow his house, the least he could do was to leave it in a clean way.
It was past three in the morning when Peter finally came home.
The house was quiet but he found Talia curled up on the couch where she had been waiting for him but had fallen asleep like a kid, trying to stay awake for Santa. She did wake up when he entered the room, though.
She had a disorientated look around and had to comb her fingers through her hair to even see but then she was sitting there, looking proud of herself for catching him sneaking in in the middle of the night.
"If you ask if I know what time it is, " Peter threatened, "I will call you mom for at least three days."
Talia glared at him but didn't ask that question. She did, however, sniff the air to read him.
"You showered." She made a face.
"After last time? Of course, I did." He was tired but too wired to sleep just yet so instead of excusing himself, he sat down in a chair and stretched out his legs.
"Is he good for you?" Talia asked.
"Yeah, I think he is," Peter answered. He was still convinced that Talia would be way less supportive if she knew who he was seeing so he didn't give her that little detail. Besides, where would be the fun if he just told her?
"That's good." She gave him a smile that was big sister and caring alpha all at once. "You deserve something good."
Peter didn't point out that he already had something good. He had a pack and a good alpha, he had people who loved him. But he got what Talia meant.
"But I still want to know who he is." She glared at him as if that would be enough for him to tell her.
"Not yet."
"Okay, if you're not going to tell me, I'm going to bed." She stretched. "Don't stay up too late."
Her fingertips brushed over his shoulder when she passed him and then Peter was alone.
Peter couldn't get Derek out of his head. He had come to bring Stiles back to the lake, that hadn't come as a surprise. But Derek had waited until Stiles had been ready to go with him and he'd even helped to clean up the mess he was leaving everywhere. That didn't fit the picture Peter had of the lake monster.
Stiles had called Derek a friend. Back then Peter hadn't believed it. Now he was getting there. But he kept his mind open to the possibility that Derek was holding Stiles on a very long leash and that he could and would use his power over Stiles whenever he wanted to.
Not getting anywhere with those thoughts, Peter made his round around the house and then he turned in.
Peter had been home late but he was still one of the first to be up in the morning. He had breakfast with his family and it did come up that he'd been out late last night but at this time of the day, nobody was up for more than some good-natured teasing before they piled out to go to school or work.
Peter retreated to the library. Aside from his room, this was the only room in the house where nobody would bother him. He turned on the computer there and typed the name Stiles had given him into the search bar.
Over the next hour, Peter pieced together a picture of Daniel Page. He was a hunter, that became clear after only a minute. He had a criminal history, was switching places often and never held a job for longer than a few months. The classical hunter who tended to leave behind messes and had to leave town in a hurry more often than not. Peter found a few names associated with him but he didn't find a match for the other man who'd been at Bob's gun shop the other day.
Around nine Peter shot Stiles a message but at this time of the day, he didn't expect an answer. However, he couldn't get last night out of his head and he was not talking about the good part here. Peter couldn't stop thinking about how Derek had taken Stiles with him. He needed to know that Stiles was okay.
When Stiles hadn't answered by noon Peter wrote another message. He might sound a little desperate by now but he didn't care. He wrote Stiles third one when he was about to drive Emily to her guitar lesson and if Peter didn't get an answer until he'd dropped her off, he would skip the library and drive out to the lake instead.
Emily had just left the car when Stiles called him. Peter would have asked to see him anyway so he agreed easily to giving him a ride to collect his car.
That he would meet the sheriff over that had not been the plan but that encounter went way better than Peter would have expected. They had wild sex under this man's roof last night and John knew it. And still, the conversation didn't turn awkward.
Peter was still glad that he had a good excuse to not linger around. So he said his goodbyes and went to pick up Emily.
After dinner, he retreated to the library again to have a closer look at the other name Stiles had given him. Which reminded him that he still owed Stiles five hundred dollars for the information. Peter made a mental note to give Stiles the money next time he saw him because Hales did pay their debts.
With only a last name it would be harder to find the right person but as a first step, Peter did type "Argent" into the search bar and hit enter. First thing was that Google asked him if he meant "Argentum" which was Latin for silver. Peter knew that and politely informed Google that he, in fact, was looking for "Argent".
As a derivative from the Latin word, Argent and similar names did show up in most Romance languages which was nice to know but didn't help with his search.
It took a while but in the end, Peter managed to narrow it down to two entries in the area. One was a substitute teacher at the High School, he'd even heard of her before, that she would stay for the year or something like that, Cora was in her class, he could ask her, but Stiles had clearly stated that Plant had been talking to a male Argent so Peter's focus was immediately on the other Argent who had come up.
Christopher Argent, arms dealer by trade and since two weeks ago a resident of Beacon Hills. He wasn't open for business yet so it didn't come as a surprise that Peter hadn't heard of him.
"Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Argent," Peter said to the picture of a man roughly his age.
It took a little more digging but Peter found out that Chris Argent was married and had a daughter. The daughter was currently living with Chris' father in France but his wife Victoria, a woman with an icy glare, had moved to Beacon Hills with him.
The more Peter was looking into Chris, the clearer it became that he was not just an arms dealer, he was a hunter. And not just that, he was coming from a long line of hunters. Argent apparently was a big name in the hunter community in France. Which reminded Peter of something. He had read about something like this before.
It was way after midnight and Peter was reading his way through a tale he'd found in a book from the seventeenth century. It was written in an obscure mix of Latin and old French and Peter needed cross-references for every other word but he got the gist of the story. Someone named Argent had killed a beast that had been terrorizing a French village for weeks. Or he'd killed it with argent meaning silver. The silver thing was a myth but it had been part of werewolf legends since the dawn of time, especially in Europe where most werewolf packs had originated from.
Peter leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. His back was stiff and his eyes sore and he wasn't even sure if the last few hours hadn't been a huge waste of time. If he was right, than one of Chris Argent's ancestors had killed at least one werewolf centuries ago. If that man had been the first hunter in the line or if it had been a family tradition before that Peter couldn't tell but it didn't matter. What mattered was that Chris most likely had been trained to hunt werewolves from an early age which made him even more dangerous than the average hunter.
Peter wondered if that was the reason Chris' daughter was back home in France with her grandfather. Was she in training to become a hunter of the next generation?
Either way, Peter would have to keep a close eye on Chris Argent. How had he missed him until now? And he still needed to find that other hunter. He was still missing a name for Daniel Page's partner but he was getting there.
It had gotten late again but tonight Peter fell into bed with the good feeling that he had accomplished something.
The next day Peter started to ask around about Chris Argent.
He, however, did it more discreetly than Talia when she was asking about the man he was seeing. By the end of the day, Peter had checked out the address, turned out the Argent couple lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, and he'd had a little chat with a lovely old lady who'd been walking her dog. She didn't know the Argents well, they had just moved in, but they had come over to introduce themselves and Victoria had brought cake. Very nice people, at least according to the old lady. Peter didn't know what Chris had told his neighbors what he was doing for a living but Peter doubted that it was arms dealer. Or hunter of werewolves for that matter.
He didn't want to be seen, lingering around, so he left after his chat with the old lady, but he would return later in the evening when he could hide in the dark. Maybe he could see or hear something.
It meant another night with little sleep but Peter was on the hunt, adrenaline was kicking in.
However, observing the Argents turned out to be rather boring. Basically, Peter watched them watching TV over which they barely spoke. And then they went to bed. Peter waited until he was sure that they were asleep before he left.
I just spent three hours hiding in some bushes just to watch a couple watching TV, he wrote to Stiles when he was back in his car which he'd parked in another street.
Do I want to know why you're hiding in bushes, stalking people? Came Stiles' prompt answer.
Following up on the lead you gave me, Peter answered. BTW I haven't forgotten about your money, you'll get it next time I see you
Movie night on the weekend? Stiles asked. But I have to check in with John first
It was Friday, late in the evening, so Stiles was talking about tomorrow or Sunday.
Rather Monday or Tuesday, Peter wrote back. He might be getting old but he wanted a good night's sleep for once and it wouldn't sit right with him if he didn't keep an eye on the Argents at least for a day or two just to get a feeling for them. And who knew, maybe the other hunters showed up there as well.
